LETTER FROM THE EDITOR - VOL. 28
KCCNYC Monthly - September 2026
By Eun Byoul Oh
Photo Credit: 9/11 Memorial Museum.
As I grow older, I just think about 9/11 a little more deeply as I think about the victims, first responders, survivors, and the surviving families. I was around seven at the time when it happened. I was still living in Korea at the time, so I do not have personal memories of the incident.
However, in the year 1999, when I had visited New York for the very first time, I went up to the towers, as part of a New York City tour, and I definitely understood and recognized the buildings under attack on the Korean news when they were showing the footage of it the next morning.
Growing up in New York in my formative years also meant that I heard accounts of the families who experienced it, and stories of what happened. I had family friends who became firefighters after 9/11. I also went to Stuyvesant High School, which was used as a temporary base for the first responders – the school itself had many plaques and memorabilia to remember the incident. I heard from alums and teachers who witnessed the incident and shared with us. There is a published account from the students, if anyone wants to read it.
But at the end of the day, I personally felt a little distant from it, maybe because I was too young to remember or because I wasn’t in New York at the time.
Stuyvesant High School School Newspaper at the time of 9/11.
In recent years, though, I have been giving myself some time to read stories of 9/11 around this time of the year because I felt it was proper to do so. I did the same this year and with the 25th anniversary creating such a buzz around unnecessary issues, I tried to read more.
This year, in particular, I saw many social media posts about how we are at a point where the next generation will be noting 9/11 as an historical event. I saw posts about how this anniversary may be the last big anniversary with survivors and those directly impacted who are still with us.
As I read many articles to reflect on 9/11, I once again was reminded of how New York came together in solidarity at the darkest hour of the city. People helped each other, and sacrificed all they had for other people.
Through these stories, I told myself that darkness will eventually pass because love and solidarity will bring light at the end of the tunnel. I am never more proud of the city that I grew up in.
With wars raging in the world and so many clashing opinions dominate the news, I often feel sad and frustrated about the world. Nonetheless, I believe in the good of humanity.
It took a while to come up with a proper topic for the Editor’s Note this month, but I want our community to know that KCCNYC, which is soon to be rebranded as Korean Culture Project or KCP, will always be a place of building bridges across different communities and across the U.S.
Further, we will continue to tell the stories of both Korea and New York, through the voices of our students and staff. Our newsletter team believes in the power of storytelling, the memories that we keep alive through our newsletter. We will share culture and art with our community to learn together and remember.
Coming up on October 3, Korean Culture Center of NYC will be hosting a booth at Korea Fest to celebrate Chuseok with NYC, like what we did last year. We will be showcasing our new name and logo at the event!
We need volunteers who will help us at the booth, and we are also in need of students who will walk in the Parade. Please see the RSVP form here.
Before Korea Fest on October 3, KCCNYC will host a K-Drama Day with the streaming service Viki! The event will be a very casual hangout and chill for our students who just finished our summer semester! Please RSVP here so that we can prepare food and drinks accordingly.
We may also do a short prep meeting for Korea Fest at the K-Drama Day event, but we will serve a little Chuseok menu too. We will celebrate Viki’s K-Drama Day with a K-Drama screening and some puzzles!
On September 27, our monthly book club is meeting on Kim Cho Yeop’s If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light. The book club RSVP link is here.
Lastly, I want to say a huge thank you to our students who attended our summer semester. See you all next semester! Please note that the Advanced class will look at some TOPIK materials next semester as a pilot class. The registration link for classes is here!
As always, it was a pleasure to get to know all of you, and we look forward to meeting you in person at our K-Drama Day event and at Korea Fest. 모두 감사합니다. 곧 만나요!
With Solidarity and Love,
Eun Byoul Oh
